Pre-register apparatus for printing press



March 25, 1969 J. J. ABBOTT, JR 3,434,217

FEE-REGISTER APPARATUS FOR PRINTING PRESS Filed May 2, 1966 2a 24 FIG-2 22 32 42 4 iNVENTOR |Q JAMES J. ABBOTT JR.

BY 2 2 }/w2 9 W ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 33-1845 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pre-register gauge for accurate registration of a plurality of printing plate cylinders. A bracket member having a horizontal portion which is adapted to lie upon the printing plate cylinder surface and a vertical portion on one side of the horizontal portion for contacting the end of the cylinder, is provided. A transparent member, having register marks which may be aligned with corresponding register marks on the printing plate, extends from the other side of the horizontal portion across the printing plate cylinder surface. The gauge is placed on the end of the cylinder and the vertical portion abuts the end of the cylinder. The gauge is held on the printing place cylinder by a magnet attached to the horizontal portion and may be easily and rapidly removed from the cylinder and repositioned on another cylinder to provide for aligning the latter mentioned register marks with the first mentioned marks. Each printing plate cylinder may include a fixed stop member to facilitate predetermined positioning of the gauge.

Background of the invention This invention relates generally to an improvement in apparatus for registering olfset printing plates on rotary printing press cylinders and more particularly to new and improved pre-register apparatus characterized by its compact and relatively inexpensive yet highly efficient construction.

Those skilled in the printing arts appreciate that it frequently is a tedious and time-consuming task to obtain the proper registration of a plurality of offset printing plates. Color registry in multicolor printing, for example, requires very accurate alignment of the respective plates so that there will be no overlapping or gaps on the finished page.

Many attempts have been made in the prior art for reducing the time and cost heretofore required for satisfactory registration. The plates are usually formed of flexible sheet metal material and each plate is wrapped around a printing press cylinder and clamped thereon by means of a plurality of front and rear clamps or gripping devices. It is common to provide each plate with a number of register marks adjacent the front edge of the plate to facilitate the proper registration of the plates. Different types of mechanisms and gauges which have been suggested in the prior art are shown in Eckard et al. Patent 2,339,467 and Lawson Patent 2,929,149.

It is a general object of this invention to provide a new and improved pre-register gauge which is adapted to be quickly and simply placed on a bearer ring of the plate cylinder for visual alignment with the plate register marks so as to enable accurate registration of a plurality of printing plates.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a new and improved pro-register gauge which comprises magnetic holding means for enabling the gauge to be quickly yet firmly held in position on the press cylinder bearer ring and further comprises a transparent slidable member having register marks provided thereon for visual alignment with the plate register marks.

3,434,217 Patented Mar. 25, 1969 ice It is a still further object of this invention to provide a new and improved pre-register system which comprises Summary of the invention In a principal aspect, the invention includes a preregister gauge for registration of the printing plates on the cylinders of the printing press, wherein a bracket member is provided having a vertical portion for engaging an end of the cylinder, a horizontal portion having a magnet to engage the surface of the cylinder and a transparent member for being aligned with register marks on the printing plates. The gauge may be easily and rapidly removed from the cylinder and repositioned on another cylinder.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, which will be explained further as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the disclosed combination and arrangement of parts, and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that various changes may be made from the illustrated exemplary embodiments within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

Brief description of the drawing For a complete disclosure of the invention, a detailed description of several illustrative embodiments will be given in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is an overall view showing the arrangement of the pre-register gauge in operative association with the printing plate and plate cylinder;

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of the pre-register gauge taken substantially as shown along line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a partial end view showing the pre-register gauge in position against the fixed stop member on the cylinder;

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of the gauge taken substantially as shown along line 4-4 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view of another illustrative embodiment of pre-register gauge having a half round, magnifying transparent slide member; and

FIGURE 6 is a perspective view of an illustrative embodiment of fixed stop member useful with the present invention.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGURE 1 thereof, there is illustrated a printing plate cylinder 10 having a flexible plate cylinder 12 wrapped therearound. The plate 12 is adapted to be secured to the cylinder 10' by the front clamps or grippers 14 and the rear clamps or gripper-s 16 in a manner well known to those skilled in the arts. The opposing ends of cylinder 10 conventionally are provided with the metal bearer rings 18 and 20.

Also it is conventional to provide a number of erossshaped register marks adjacent the corners of printing plate 12. In accordance with a novel feature of the present invention, proper and accurate registration of a number of plates may be attained by the use of a highly advantageous yet relatively simple pre-register gauge 22. As illustrated in FIGURE 1, and as described in greater detail below, the gauge is adapted to be placed in fixed position on the plate 12 such that a register mark 38, etched or otherwise provided on a transparent slidable member 36 of the gauge, may be superimposed over and visually aligned with the register mark on the plate 12. Once this is done, the gauge may be removed from the cylinder and placed on another cylinder so as to enable the plate thereon to be accurately aligned and registered with the first plate.

As shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, the novel preregister gauge advantageously comprises a bracket or channel member 24 which is substantially L-shaped o as to be positioned over the bearer ring 18 at one end of cylinder 10. A magnet 26 is provided on the underside of the horizontal portion of bracket 24, and is aflixed thereto by the rivet or other fastening member 28, so as to enable the gauge to be firmly held to the bearer ring 18 during use, while at the same time permitting the gauge to easily be placed upon or removed from the cylinder during periods of non-use. A substantially rectangular and transparent base member 30 extends from the bracket 24 and magnet 26 to provide a support for a pair of opaque strip members and a slidable transparent member as described in greater detail below.

The opaque strip members 32 and 34 are spaced from each other and fixedly fastened to the base member 30. In between the opaque strip members 32 and 34 there is provided a transparent member 36 which is slidable relative to the base member 30 and opaque members 32 and 34. Advantageously, a number of register marks may be provided on the slidable member 36, such as by etching, printing or any other suitable marking method.

In accordance with another feature of this invention, a fixed stop member 40 may be attached to one end of the cylinder to permit the pre-register gauge 22 to be properly positioned on the cylinder in predetermined relation to the clamps. As shown in FIGURE 6, the stop member 40 may be formed of a lower vertical portion 46 having an opening 42 for attachement to the cylinder by suitable fastening means, a horizontal portion 50 and an upper vertical portion 52 which serves as an abutment to properly position the gauge 22.

In the use of the present invention, the gauge 22 is placed on the cylinder 10 with th vertical portion of bracket 24 abutting the bearer ring 18 and the stop member 40. The gauge is held in this position, against inadvertent sliding movement, by the action of the magnet member 26. The sliding member 36 of gauge 22 is set so as to be visually aligned with a register mark on the plate 12. Advantageously, this alignment may be achieved by observing the plate register mark through the transparent sliding member 36 such that one of the fine register marks 38 on sliding member 36 is accurately superimposed over the plate register mark. Alternatively, the outermost edge 54 of the sliding member 36 may be visually aligned with the plate register mark by proper adjustment of the sliding member.

After the gauge 22 has been properly aligned with the register marks of the first plate, the gauge is removed from the cylinder 10 and placed upon another cylinder Proper positioning of the gauge in the desired predetermined position is achieved by means of the fixed stop member 40 on the cylinder. With gauge 22 in abutment with the cylinder end and the fixed stop member 40, the gauge is properly positioned for registration of the printing plate 12. The latter is adjusted until the register marks thereon are accurately aligned with the sliding member 36. These steps are repeated with each of the other cylinders and plates until all are in proper registry with each other.

As shown in FIGURE 4, the transparent sliding member 36 may have planar upper and lower surfaces for visual observation therethrough, or if desired the reading of the fine register marks may be facilitated by the use of a magnifying half round sliding member 44, such as that illustrated in FIGURE 5 of the drawing.

While certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been shown and described for purposes of illustration, modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed as the invention is:

1. In a pre-register arrangement for rapidly attaining accurate registry of offset printing plates on the printing plate cylinders of a rotary printing press; a pre-register gauge adapted to be removably mounted on an end of the plate cylinder, said gauge including a bracket member for positioning over the end of the cylinder, said bracket member having a first substantially horizontal portion for positioning on the surface of the cylinder and a second substantially vertical portion extending from one side of said first portion for engaging the end of the cylinder, magnet means carried by said bracket member and arranged to contact the surface of the cylinder for holding the gauge firmly in place on said cylinder while permitting rapid removal therefrom in a direction normal to the surface of the cylinder, and a transparent member extending from a side of said first portion opposite said one side for alignment with register marks on the printing plate, wherein said gauge further comprises a transparent base member for supporting said transparent member and a pair of opaque members on said base member, with one opaque member on each side of said transparent.

2. In a pre-register arrangement for rapidly attaining accurate registry of offset printing plates on the printing plate cylinders of a rotary printing press; a pro-register gauge adapted to be removably mounted on an end of the plate cylinder, said gauge including a bracket member for positioning over the end of the cylinder, said bracket member having a first substantially horizontal portion for positioning on the surface of the cylinder and a second substantially vertical portion extending from one side of said first portion for engaging the end of the cylinder, magnet means carried by said bracket member and arranged to contact the surface of the cylinder for holding the gauge firmly in place on said cylinder while permitting rapid removal therefrom in a direction normal to the surface of the cylinder, a transparent member extending from a side of said first portion opposite said one side for alignment with register marks on the printing plate, and a fixed stop member attached to the end of the plate cylinder for abutting engagement with said gauge to enable the gauge to be placed in a predetermined position on said cylinder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,583,825 5/1926 Davis 33-1845 1,665,842 4/1928 Brunings 33-184.5 2,095,542 10/1937 Claybourn.

2,701,521 2/1955 Taylor.

2,929,149 3/1960 Lawson 33l84.5 3,099,092 7/1963 Crance 33184.5 X 3,222,786 l2/1965 Gingras 33-76 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,294,691 4/ 1962 France.

227,896 1/ 1925 Great Britain.

WILLIAM D. MARTIN, JR., Primary Examiner.

US. 01. X.R. 3376; 101-426 

